


Legacy

by Walutahanga



Category: Power Rangers S.P.D.
Genre: Alien Character(s), Alien Culture, Dubious Ethics, F/M, Father Figures, Genetic Engineering, Genetically Engineered Beings, Genocide, Grief/Mourning, Hybrids, Pre-Canon, Secrets, Speculation, Survivor Guilt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-21
Updated: 2014-03-21
Packaged: 2018-01-16 11:34:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1345981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Walutahanga/pseuds/Walutahanga
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>How can he explain that he had not authorised the 2001 experiments out of a desire to protect a living species, but from a need to preserve a dead one? </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In which, Doggie does not tell the rangers the whole truth about the source of their powers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Legacy

Crugar and Isinia had talked about having cubs.  

In the safe circle of their marriage bed, they had discussed litters of their own, and whether they'd have Isinia’s eyes and Crugar’s tail, or the other way round. Back then the future had been filled with possibilities. Crugar had imagined a bevy of cubs scampering after him, trying to fill his large pawprints with their tiny ones. 

Then Grumm had come, and there was no future anymore, just the dust of a dead world lingering in Crugar’s nose and the only things shadowing his footsteps were ghosts.

* * *

 It was a year after the destruction of Sirius that Kat brought Crugar her findings. They'd only been working together a few months by that point, in the fledgling SPD that had yet to distinguish itself as anything other than the Morphing Council's hired muscle. Most of that time had been spent frantically tracking the gradual progress of the Trubian empire, trying to identify Grumm's next target. 

“He's heading for Earth.” Kat Manx adjusted the viewing screen controls, bringing the planet into focus. “Our informants believe that Grumm will target it for several reasons; first because it's rich in the resources he needs but lacks the technology to offer effective resistance. Second, because it is where the Spectre War was ended and the symbolism appeals to him." 

"Succeeding where Dark Spectre and so many others fails," Crugar agreed quietly. For such an insignificant little world, Earth had become quite a prize for the would-be conquerors of the galaxy. The benefits of actually succeeding would not match the amount of effort and resources put in, and yet every dark-user or space pirate looking to make a name for themselves cast speculative glances toward the little blue world. He supposed it was inevitable that Grumm would fall into the same trap. 

"Exactly," Kat said. "The third reason - and possibly the most practical - it has an unusually high ranger population. Grumm will want to get rid of them before he turns his attention on the rest of the galaxy." 

Crugar frowned. 

"At the rate he's approaching, he won't reach Earth for another twenty years at least. The rangers would be well past their prime by then." 

"Would you want to out-strategize Jason Scott at forty?" Kat points out. "Or match intellects with Billy Cranston at any age? Most of the rangers won't be able to serve on the frontlines, but that doesn't mean they won't contribute in other, potentially more dangerous ways. Grumm would be wise to eliminate them before they become a threat." 

Crugar made a vague sound of agreement, eyes still on the screen. 

"Rangers aside, Earth has no cohesive defenses," he said. "The humans will have no chance of defeating Grumm's fleet." 

“They’ve surprised us before. It was a human team that ended the Spectre War.”

"At the expense of a Master." 

And that was a price they simply could not afford to pay again. The repercussions of Zordon’s loss had rippled through the galaxy, disrupting millenia-old balances of power. Without his reputation to keep the peace, dark-users were growing bold again, old villains resurfacing like _dakan_ scenting blood in the water. The Council had its hands full slapping down the worst offenders, which was why SPD had been approved in the first place, to take on the 'lesser' threats. The loss of any more Masters would mean even more challengers. 

“Still,” Kat said. “Humans have potential. The kerovan sub-species for example have useful telepathic and telekinetic abilities.”

“A single sub-species,” Crugar dismissed it. “And their evolution branched off from earthlings several thousand years ago. Humans in general are weak. There is no way they can defend themselves against Grumm.”

Kat said nothing, but when he glanced her, she had a secretive look on her face. It was an expression he was familiar with.

“You have an idea."

“I do,” she said. “It’s… complicated. Ethically, it’s a gray area. But it would give humans a way to defend themselves.”

“Go on.”

“What if,” Kat said. “We tweaked their evolution? Not much,” she added hastily as Sirius opened his mouth. “Just enough to make them more formidable. A little bit faster, a little bit stronger, a little bit smarter.”

When Crugar didn’t say anything, she continued, pulling up data on-screen.

“I’ve been comparing human DNA with several of the more evolved races. So far, they’re most compatible with Acquitans, Xibrians, and Mercurions. But the species that really interested me were the Sirians.”

“Sirians?” Crugar’s attention, which had been starting to wander, snapped back at the mention of his nearly extinct race.

Kat nodded.

“It seems that your species – while normally completely incompatible with humans – garners interesting results when the two are combined artificially. I believe that by splicing a small amount of Sirian DNA into human DNA, the resulting hybrid would display abilities that neither race alone possesses.”

Crugar stared at the screen, at the display of DNA twisting and coiling.

“What kind of abilities?” 

“It’s impossible to be entirely sure, but… possibly phasing, shielding, decoy-throwing. Maybe even a form of transfiguration or telepathy if we’re lucky.”

“And you would need my DNA for this.” It was a statement, not a question.

“It’s the only fresh sample we have. Everything I’ve done up till now is theoretical, using the data in the banks.” Kat seemed to take his quiet for hesitation, and plunged on. “Sir, this is a good idea. Even if we don’t use it on the entire human race, it would give us a few formidable warriors to use against Grumm. That’s all we’ll really need if we can get the ranger project up and running.”

Crugar held up his hand, and she fell silent, only the faint twitch of her ears betraying her agitation. He continued to study the data scrolling down the screen.  What Kat suggested was playing god. Tampering with the evolution of a species was problematic at best. Crugar couldn’t know what the exact results would be, or how the subjects would be received. Humans might very well turn on the hybrids, seeing them as different and threatening.

But the DNA that existed inside Crugar was the only real thing he had left of Sirius. He was the last of his kind. When he died, his species would die with him. Their legacy would become nothing more than some dry entry in SPD’s databanks, a footnote on the proud race that had been the Sirians.

Crugar was aware of Kat hovering, waiting for his verdict.

“Do it,” he said. 

* * *

 Twenty years on, Crugar can still smell the dust of Sirius. He can still hear the ghosts of the dead, treading in his footsteps, whispering his name in voices only he can hear.

The voices fade into the background when he looks at his cubs. Of course, he does not call them that. That would be a blatant violation of SPD protocol, and raise questions he has no answers to. How can he explain that he had not authorised the 2001 experiments out of a desire to protect a living species, but out of a need to preserve a dead one?

The B-squad look and behave human. Their official classification is ‘mutant’ and only a very few personnel know that the truth is something closer to ‘hybrid’. B-squad show no characteristics of their parent race, at least none that human senses can detect. On base, only Crugar and Kat have sensitive enough olfactory systems to know that B-squad don’t smell strictly human. In any case, the particulars of one’s body odor isn’t something that should come up in polite conversation, so Crugar feels their secret is secure.

Sometimes, though, he wonders if the human exterior is deceptive. If, for example, he was to try and teach the rangers the sirian language, would their vocal cords be able to pronounce the growling syllables and rolling consonants? Or, if he were to speak to them of sirian mythology, would they grasp it on some fundamental level that humans never could?

He wonders and he is desperately tempted to know. Only Kat’s steady presence stops him. Thank the Wolven for Kat. She watches him with knowing green eyes, but never says anything and never judges. She only interferes when she believes that his judgement is in question.

Of course, when it comes to B-squad, his judgement is _always_ in question.

When he looks at Syd, he likes to imagine that her innocent materialism comes from his little sister, Hati, who could be distracted by anything shiny. Once she’d cried a whole day when she lost her necklace at the beach, until Crugar had borrowed a friend’s metal detector and spent a whole week combing the sand. It had been worth it to hand the necklace to Hati and see her smile.

Sky and Sam remind Crugar of his stern, militarian father, who’d enforced rules with a heavy hand. They are always convinced they’re right, even ( _especially_ ) when everyone else disagrees. They are stubborn and arrogant, and never speak of their feelings. Crugar’s father had died in the first wave of Grumm’s attacks, leaving Crugar knowing the man little better than he had as a cub. He likes to think that by knowing Sky and Sam, he can come to understand his father better.  And in a way, he does – though not all of it is positive.

Jack worries Crugar. He makes Crugar think of the rebellious older brother who’d ran away when Crugar was still a cub. Letters had come infrequently for a couple of years, then stopped abruptly. The next thing to arrive in the mail had been a death certificate and a set of dog-tags for an off-world militia group. Crugar still has those dog-tags. He sometimes thinks of giving them to Jack, and telling him of Cerberus, but the two are too much alike as it is. No sense in giving him ideas. Kat accuses Crugar of being too hard on Jack, but she can’t see Cereberus in the muted gleam of defiance in Jack’s eyes.

Bridge’s antics annoy some people, but Crugar secretly treasures them. His cousin, who had been an entertainer by profession, had been the same. Orthrus had always been doing tumbling tricks and slap-stick comedy to make his younger cousins laugh. Crugar sometimes worries that Bridge would be happier in another profession, but can’t tell whether it is because Bridge would be, or Orthrus.

Only Z does not remind Crugar of anyone in his family. She bears no resemblance to anyone related to him by blood. No, the memories she triggers are far more painful.

_Isinia_.

Z has the same compassion and practical common-sense as Crugar’s long-dead wife. Isinia had never allowed Crugar to feel sorry for himself, and Z is the same. She bullies the other rangers into action, and provides tart criticism when it is needed most. Intellectually, Crugar knows that Isinia was lost with Sirius. None of her DNA went into this human child. It’s entirely impossible that Z could have inherited anything from her. But the resemblance is striking all the same. 

There were ghost stories on Sirius, of spirits who lingered after death and fathered children on living females. Back then, Crugar had never paid much attention to the old stories, but now he more than half-believes that Z truly is the child of his wife’s spirit.  _All_ of B-squad are the children of Sirius’ spirit. Like the ghost-sired children of the stories, they are drawn to face their parents’ murderer, to right the wrong made against the last generation.

Crugar is little more than a ghost himself these days. The flesh still lives and the heart still beats, but he is not truly living. He has not been truly alive since he watched his world burn. He is just one more ghost whispering in his childrens’ ear, urging veangance. And like those ghosts, once placated, he will finally be able to rest, to fade and disappear into the darkness, following the rest of his race into death.

He will leave behind him the tattered remnants of a legacy, stowed in the safest place he can find, where it can never be erased, or stolen, or misused. Within the rangers themselves. And whether they know it or not, whether they value it or not, they will carry Sirius inside them wherever they go. 

**Author's Note:**

> Sadly just a one-shot. But anyone who wants to take the ball and run with it is more than welcome :-)


End file.
